Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-05-13
The Evils of Novel Rcadinr

On recent Sunday, DR.. Talmage of
Brooklyn preached on the evils of novel
reading He said, among other things
One great need of all our cities i great
bonfire of bad books. 1t would make a
blaze 100 feet high. Some publishing
houses of this country would do well to
bring out their entire stock and pitch it
into the fire: The only way to overthrow
bad books is to publish plenty of good
ones. | declare to-day that believe that
the blessings of the country come from
elevated literature, and its curse in de-
PRAYED literature. The latter has its vic
tins in insane asylums, penitentiaries and
the grave. The London plague was moth
ing to it. That had thousands of victims :;
but evil literature has shovelled millions
into the CLEARINGHOUSE of the morally
dead.
am asked the question by young peo-
pie: should we read novels - make
two replies. II reply, first, that there are
good, honest, Christian novels that will
help prepare Us for the duties of life and
of the life that is to come. have, for my
second response, to say that 30 out of a
lOO novels | believe IN he debasing to
the last extreme. The tendency even with
respectable publishers is to publish evil
literature. You have books on your tables
that will curse your children and genera
tons unborn. They are every wherein
the desk OF the school room, in the steam
boat cabins, on the table of the hotel re-
Ception room.
There is good deal of truth in what DR.
Talmage says, when Invested Of the ex
aggeratlOn that marks nearly all his utter
ances. OF course it is not true that ninety
nine out of every hundred novels are de
basing to the last extreme" This is the
statement of man who does not read cur
rent fiction, or one who does not weigh
his words. But the general conclusion,
hat lndiscriminate novel reading is
bad, that it corrupts morals, depraves
taste and weakens the intellectual grasp
is undeniable. The omnivorous novel
reader is seldom person of strong charac-
ter or mental power. The appetite for
cheap literature in this country is good
deal like the appetite for strong drink. 1t
has become inordinate, and for that rea
son harmful. There is good chance
just now for some clear thinker
to write paper on Intemperance in
fiction" which shall be timely and helpful.
One great evil of novel reading is that
there is too much of it. There is no oppor-
tunty left for discrimination. In order to
satisfy his or her craving, the American
novel reader bolts everything that comes
from the press good bad and Indifferent.
The result is precisely the same as follows
physical overfeeding-a general relaxation
and flabbiness of all the powers, succeeded
by disease.
A temperate use of fiction, even though
it be not always of the absolutely highest
class, can at least rest the mind and a
really good novel-of which class one
comes to light once in g while, even in
these days-is helpful and inspiring.
Some novels preach more powerfully than
sermons. But while our reading public
continues to debauch itself with the flood
poured continuously from the press in this
country, there can not be too much
preaching against the excessive craving
for light or low fiction. After this cray
ing becomes established into habit, it is
like the morphine habit-almost inyinci-
BILE. Parents owe duty to their chill
dren in this matter and by careful selec-
ton of good reading, which need not be
dry reading. for their boys and girls, they
can do much to save them from mental
dissipation and moral deprivation.